The three accused — Élizabeth Leclerc, Antoine Simard, and Édouard Parent — operated Expédition Mi-Loup inc., a sled dog tourism and mushing enterprise on Île d’Orléans, Québec. The enterprise ran from at least 2008 until April 2022, when it was shut down following a media report and a police investigation triggered by an eviction call at the premises.

At its peak, the kennel housed approximately 200 dogs. Simard was the owner and operator responsible for all kennel decisions, staffing, food procurement, and the management of the dog population. Leclerc, his partner, handled administration, reservations, and employee payroll. Parent was a handyman responsible for the snowmobile section and the repair shop, and was rarely present in the kennel itself.

Multiple former employees testified for the prosecution, describing a consistent pattern of abuse and neglect spanning years. Dogs were killed by hanging (a rope tied to a barn rafter with the dog projected downward, with executioners pulling on the hind legs if death was not immediate), by a homemade gas chamber built by Simard using his welding knowledge of argon (a domestic chest freezer connected to a gas canister, with dogs placed inside for approximately two minutes), and in some instances by being run over with a snowmobile. Puppies — estimated at between 500 and 1,500 over the period — were killed by placing them in a bucket connected to a snowmobile exhaust (CO2 gassing), by neck-breaking, or by being placed alive in the chest freezer. Simard maintained an elimination list targeting old, sick, or aesthetically undesirable dogs, and was transparent about it with staff. Dogs on the list were killed at night, out of sight of clients. One witness estimated over 1,000 animals eliminated between 2016 and 2022 alone.

No veterinarian ever attended the kennel during the period covered by the charges; veterinary care was entirely absent. Sick and injured dogs were treated by guides using super glue for wounds, horse-dose vermifuge for parasites, and human medication when nothing else was available. Two female dogs died of untreated wounds during this period. Dogs were fed once daily on abattoir scraps — bones, fat, gristle, and occasional meat — sometimes rotten in summer. There was no water in winter; dogs were expected to eat snow. Shelter consisted of plastic barrel kennels placed directly on the ground with no air circulation, and with exposed nail and screw points on the interior.

Dogs were forced to run up to six times daily, including pregnant females and dogs that had recently given birth. Simard managed the kennel through physical violence, kicking and hitting dogs that misbehaved; witnesses described dogs cowering when he entered. An unregulated rubber-band castration program was introduced around 2016, performed in a non-sterile environment. No sterilization of females was ever carried out.

Leclerc was acquitted on all counts; the court found that although she held an administrative role and had some awareness of conditions, the evidence was insufficient to establish the required mens rea beyond a reasonable doubt, and she exercised no direct control over the animals.

Parent was acquitted on Count 3 via a directed verdict but convicted on Counts 1 and 2 based on evidence of his direct participation in the killing and transport of dogs, his manipulation of the argon canisters, and his statements to witnesses that firearms were more efficient than hanging.

Simard was convicted on all three counts. The court rejected his testimony entirely, finding it evasive and implausible, and held that his self-created overpopulation — resulting directly from his refusal to sterilize females — could not constitute a legitimate excuse for the mass killing of animals. The court further held that where other means of population control were available and accessible, any suffering imposed was without necessity.

Sentencing was pending at the time of this judgment.

Simard_2024QCPC(Verdict Mi-Loup)